When David Leite journeyed to Portugal to delve into the food of his heritage, he landed in the midst of a culinary revolution. The chourico, salt cod and paprika-scented food of his childhood was reinvigorated in exciting, cutting-edge dishes.

Linda Murphy

When David Leite journeyed to Portugal to delve into the food of his heritage, he landed in the midst of a culinary revolution. The chourico, salt cod and paprika-scented food of his childhood was reinvigorated in exciting, cutting-edge dishes.

Leite, author of “The New Portuguese Table,” which will hit bookstores on Aug. 18, lived in Lisbon for a year and explored the cuisine of the country’s cities, coastlines, rural areas and the islands of the Azores and Madeira. The book takes readers on a gastronomic tour of the country as it examines the traditional food and wines of Portugal as well as the emerging hot trends crafted by the country’s up-and-coming young chefs.

“There are modern young cooks out there adapting and changing the classic recipes,” said Leite. “I wanted to show how many people are eating in Portugal now.”

Leite grew up in Fall River and Swansea dining on traditional Portuguese food prepared by his mother, Ellie Leite, and grandmother, Eliza Costa, who emigrated from the Azorean island of Sao Miguel in 1920. But it wasn’t until his grandmother’s death in 1992 that Leite sought to preserve the family recipes and learn more about Portuguese cuisine.

He said his next culinary venture is a line of food products called Leite’s Eats based on some of the recipes in the book.

“The book is an homage to my grandmother and my family, but it goes beyond that — most Portuguese cookbooks have the same recipes over and over again as if Portuguese food has remained static,” he said.

His grandmother’s hearty Azorean recipe for white beans and chourico flavored with paprika, tomato, bacon, onions, garlic and red pepper flakes has found a place in the book alongside trendier dishes like mini lamb meatballs seasoned with ginger, cumin and cinnamon. The meatballs, created by his friend Teresa Cota Dias, are a new take on the country’s beef or pork meatballs simmered in tomato sauce.

Other traditional family recipes include his mother’s recipe for beef braised in red wine and garlic and his grandmother’s recipes for malassadas, bread stuffing with chourico and bacon, and an egg tortilla with potatoes, roasted red peppers, onions and chourico.

Leite emerged on the culinary scene at the age of 38 after a successful career as an advertising copywriter. He launched the wildly popular foodie Web site www.LeitesCulinaria.com more than a decade ago, and today he said it receives more than 3 million visits a year. He garnered three James Beard awards for the online magazine and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit and Gourmet.
Leite continues his skillful culinary observations in the book with introductions to each recipe and explanations of the food and wine of the country’s regions.

“Julia Child first became interested in food when she was 38, and she published her first book, ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking,’ when she was 50. So I beat her by a year,” said Leite, who marked his 49th birthday recently.

Like Child, Leite tested and retested the recipes in the book and adapted them for the American table. Along with a team of more than a dozen testers, he reinvented the recipes he recorded in a pocket notebook as he visited homes, cafés, sleek modern restaurants and even regional cooking classes.

In a cooking class in the town of Portel, where plums are plentiful, he picked up a recipe for pork tenderloin in a port wine prune sauce. Leite also updates two other traditional Portuguese pork dishes, Azorean garlic-roasted pork and Alantejan pork with clams, with quicker cooking versions of the spicy classics.

He said he included quick weeknight meals that would appeal to the busy American cook, such as grilled shrimp with a chili pepper and vinegar-based piri-piri sauce and a roasted chicken prepared with a red pepper paste and roasted potatoes.

Other classics are re-crafted for a more adventurous palate, such as the duck risotto (originally made with shredded boiled duck and rice). The new version marries braised duck with creamy risotto, chourico, presunto (ham) and orange zest.

Leite also explores how the cuisine in Portugal has been influenced by Portuguese colonies in Brazil, Mozambique and Macau. The Brazilian “mayonnaise” made with milk and olive oil is combined with a variety of ingredients to create a green olive and anchovy dip, and spreads for grilled meat and fish combine the egg-fee mixture with cilantro, curry or tomato. The grilled chicken breasts with spicy coconut sauce evolved with Asian accents from the original Mozambican chicken and red pepper dish when the Portuguese who lived there immigrated to the Portuguese colony in Macau, China.

For part of his journey he traveled with Portuguese food historian Janet Boileau as he searched out the evolution of the traditional food. One dish, scrambled eggs with asparagus and fresh cod, is widely recognized as the start of the country’s food revolution, he said.

Fausto Airoldi, who was a chef at Bica do Sapato in Lisbon, is credited with taking the original dish of scrambled eggs with matchstick potatoes and salt cod to a new culinary realm by using asparagus, fresh cod and an herbed oil. Leite includes the original salt cod recipe along with variations that use mushrooms and shrimp.

The book also contains a section on the wide variety of breads found throughout Portugal as well as some recipes for soups, liquors, flavored oils, jams and desserts. One unusual recipe Leite crafted for the book is a lemon and oil-cured olive cookie that was inspired by a crisp cookie he had at a dinner party in Lisbon.

As he traveled the country Leite shot many of the scenic photos that appear alongside numerous photos of the dishes that were shot by Portuguese photographer Nuno Correia. In all there are 100 photos of cobblestone streets, colorful tiles and mouthwatering dishes.

“It was important to me to show how beautiful our food is,” said Leite. “The majority of people in Fall River know about Portuguese food, but there are many people from outside the area who have never had Portuguese food.”

The following are excerpts and recipes from Leite’s “The New Portuguese Table,” published by Clarkson Potter Publishers, which will arrive in local bookstores on Aug. 18.

Green Olive Dip
(patê de azeitonas verdes)
When I visited A Bolota, a lovely restaurant perched on the sweeping plains of the eastern Alentejo, this dip was brought to our table. As I nattered away with friends, I dipped, spread, and nibbled, until I realized I alone had eaten all of it. Later, when I became friendly with the cook, Ilda Vinagre, I watched her make it and was flummoxed when she whipped up its silky base: Milk “Mayonnaise”whole milk whirred into a smooth consistency with the addition of vegetable oil. I serve this as a dip with a platter of crudites, alongside crackers or bread, or, sometimes, as a topping for grilled fish.

Note: Don’t make this in a food processor. The bowls of most processors are too large to allow the scant amount of ingredients to whip up to the right consistency. A small narrow blender, or a mini chop or handheld blender, works best. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

1. Add the milk, anchovies, garlic, two thirds of the cilantro, and the pepper to a blender and pulse to combine. With the motor running, pour the oil in what the Portuguese call a fio, or fine thread. Keep whirring until the oil is incorporated and the mixture thickens, 30 to 40 seconds.

2. Scrape the dip into a serving bowl and stir in the olives. Mince the remaining cilantro, sprinkle on top, and serve.

Sweet Lemon and Black Olive Wafers
Cookies aren’t exactly a specialty of the Portuguese. The traditional ones tend to be crumbly and plain, more like a dunking biscuit. One day at a dinner party, though, I had a sweet thin cookie with a distinctive snap. I immediately made notes in my ever-present little black book; the only thing is, I never asked the hostess for the recipe. I spent months trying to come up with a cookie that matched hers, and finally I’ve done her proud. But I wanted to ratchet up the recipe, adding two iconic Portuguese ingredients to the mix: olives and lemons.

Serve this alone, as a lovely accompaniment to tea, or, my favorite, as a crunchy bite alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream or lemon sorbet.

Note: Sample an olive before you buy them. Strong-flavored ones can give a bitter aftertaste to the cookie. Makes about 15 wafers.

1. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and crank up the heat to 375 F.

2. Stir together the flour, olives, sugar, baking powder, zest, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together the oil and egg, pour the mixture into the dry ingredients, and mix with your hands until the dough no longer looks dry and holds together when squeezed, 1 to 2 minutes.

3. Fill a small bowl with sugar and set nearby. Pinch off 1 rounded tablespoon (about 1 ounce) of dough, roll it into a ball, and coat it well with sugar. Place it in one corner of a sheet of parchment cut to fit your baking sheet, place another piece of parchment on top, and using a rolling pin, roll the ball into a 3 1/2- to 4-inch circle, a scant 1⁄16 inch thick. The edges will be ragged; that’s how they should be. Repeat with 5 more wafers on the same sheet. Lift off the top sheet and slip the parchment with the cookies onto the baking sheet.

4. Bake until the wafers are edged with brown and pebbled on top, 10 to 12 minutes. Slide the parchment onto a wire cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough. Once cooled, the wafers will keep in an airtight container for several days, but I doubt they’ll stick around that long.

Pork Tenderloin in a Port-Prune Sauce
When I stayed at the quaint Refugio da Vila, in the tiny town of Portel, I made sure to sign up for their cooking classes. They were held in the airy cozinha de matanca, or butchering kitchen, where, in years past, livestock went after meeting their maker. This was our first dish of the day. Plums are a specialty of the area, so naturally prunes — aka dried plums — were on the menu.

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and crank up the heat to 450 F.

2. Dump the prunes into a small saucepan, add the port, beef stock, ginger, and honey, and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let steep for 20 minutes.

3. Pour the prunes and liquid into a blender or food processor and buzz until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Season both tenderloins well with salt and pepper and sear one at a time, turning occasionally, until brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet and set the skillet aside.

5. Roast the pork until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the meat registers just under 150 F, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer the tenderloins to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 5 minutes.

6. Pour off all but a thin film of fat from the skillet. Lower the heat to medium, toss in the garlic, and cook until lightly colored, about 2 minutes. Add the port-prune sauce and stir to pick up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Pour in the vinegar, and any accumulated juices from the pork, and cook to meld the flavors, 2 to 3 minutes. If the sauce seems thick, add more beef stock. For an elegant take, strain the sauce through a sieve.

7. Cut the tenderloins on the diagonal into ½-inch slices. Divide the slices among six plates, drizzle with the warm sauce, and sprinkle with cilantro.